


He Wanted Him To Be

by MrGivensAndHisHat



Category: Justified
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:52:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrGivensAndHisHat/pseuds/MrGivensAndHisHat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raylan shoots and kills Boyd. He now faces the agonizing question that he's had trouble answering since he got reassigned to Kentucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Wanted Him To Be

**Author's Note:**

> I admit, I'm not a Raylan/Boyd shipper like some people are. I just think making them out to be romantically and sexually interested in each other does them a disservice. But that doesn't mean their friendship or whatever you wanna call it isn't complicated. And I wondered what would happen if Raylan ended up in the same position that he was in the Fire in the Hole episode. I wondered what the aftermath would be. I'm assuming that if Boyd were to be killed, it would be by Raylan and it would be at whenever the show ended. So, just assume that as well so this story makes a bit more sense. I can't quite grasp whatever type of relationship they have but that's what makes writing something like this so challenging. So I'm giving it a shot.

"Was he your friend?"

Ever since Raylan came back to Kentucky, he pondered that question multiple times. He never did it out loud of course and he never told anyone about it. Not Ava. Not Winona. Not Art. He always figured that if it was such a struggle for him, that it was too personal to tell anyone. But now? Well now he had to answer that question. The one in which the answer had always escaped him. Were they friends? Perhaps when they were 19 and digging coal in that god forsaken mine, maybe he viewed Boyd as a friend. He couldn't quite remember what he felt at the time. It was so long ago. He sure as hell wished he remembered. Maybe it would make everything that happened since he returned make sense.

When Boyd showed up at his place when Ava was kidnapped by Bo, bringing him along just made sense. Not for himself but for Boyd. Going to get Ava back probably wasn't Boyd's business at the time, but his father being the orchestrator did. And after Boyd revealed that Bo killed all of his men, he just couldn't say no to the man. Boyd had unfinished business. He decided to respect that and bring him along. Is that what friends do for each other? It amused Raylan that he was pondering exactly what a friend was in order to understand what Boyd was to him. He never did have friends now that he thought about it. He had colleagues like Tim, Rachel, and Art. Although, maybe Art was pretty close to being a friend. So, eliminate the colleagues and what did he have? Nobody. He didn't have friends. Being a Marshal was always his top priority and making friends with people wasn't on his to do list.

But after shooting Boyd for a second and final time, he felt like he lost a friend. But that didn't make them friends. Friends don't shoot one another. That he knew for certain. So answering that question in the affirmative would be dishonest. Sure, they saved each other a few times here and there but hell, he's saved Gary before. He definitely didn't end up being friends with him. Was Boyd an enemy? Answering "yes" to that question would certainly be truthful in a sense. They were on opposites side of the law and certain butted heads a few times. And enemies definitely have a tendency to shoot each other. So it wouldn't be a lie. On the other hand, as much as he liked to say that he didn't like Boyd, he couldn't say they were outright enemies. He didn't feel like he had to go out of his way to put him behind bars, only when the situation called for it. Which, if he was honest, happened quite a bit. Being a Marshal already guaranteed such a thing.

Suddenly, Raylan realized the answer. Maybe it wasn't as complicated as he made it out to be. Maybe it never was to begin with. Certainly their history fogged things up enough to where he couldn't quite make out exactly what was what, but that didn't make it complicated. It only made him confused. He respected Boyd to an extent. Boyd was loyal to his friends and he certainly treated Ava better than he did when they were together. He also understood why Boyd did the things he did. And he absolutely understood why he shot Boyd a second time. Shooting Boyd was his job. Being a Marshal called for it at the time. It had to be done. But he didn't want to do it. And THAT answered the question. So he answered it.

"No. But I wanted him to be."


End file.
